Raleigh, N.C. — Every drop of water counts in the statewide drought, so a growing number of businesses and residents have started using barrels to collect and save as much rain as possible.

Eighty-gallon barrels positioned around Pullen Park in Raleigh, for example, have captured enough rain from showers Thursday and Friday to water flowers throughout the park for several days.

"You take what you can get," said Lisa Wallace, of Raleigh's Parks and Recreation Department. "Even though it has quit raining, we're still getting some runoff, still getting a little bit of rain into (our) barrel."

Rain barrels have become a hot commodity in area stores and with the city. Raleigh officials said the city has sold 60 barrels in the last 10 days.

The staff of Logan Trading Co., a nursery north of downtown Raleigh, took the concept a step further, placing a 55-gallon tub into a storm drain to collect runoff from the parking lot. A motor then pumps water from the tub into an above-ground tank.

That water is enough to water plants at the nursery for a week, Bristow said.

"This is just a way that we can avoid having to cut on the spigot," he said. "We knew, as precious a resource as water is becoming right now, we'd have to get creative if we were going to capture any of this rainwater."

Homeowners like Pete Huckins, who also is using a rain barrel in an effort to resuscitate his lawn, said conservation requires creativity.

"Conservation is something that we're going to have take a look at. If it gets so bad they have to start charging 10 cents a gallon (for water), people will start looking real hard," Huckins said.

joshua2Oct 20, 2007

The store mentioned in the article(Logan Trading Co.), sells several types and sizes of rain barrels and most of them are made locally from recycled plastics!!! They have a rain barrel demo set up at the front of their store that shows how you set up the barrel. It's pretty neat! The show some of the barrels on their website www.logantrd.com It's great that businesses are going this direction.

lynddsyOct 19, 2007

i think this is great. my friend has used 5 gallon buckets for years just to save on her water bill. too bad all people don't do it. it's there for the taking and is a way to water those flowers.

oldrebelOct 19, 2007

Great idea. Maybe this will bring back indoor cisterns beofre it's over.